page_title: Timeline of the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season
section_title: May
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season / Timeline of storms / May
caption_attribution_description: Tropical Depression One on May 31 at approximately 1251 UTC. This image was produced from data from NOAA-10, provided by NOAA.
context_page_description: The 1988 Atlantic hurricane season was an event in the annual Atlantic hurricane season in the north Atlantic Ocean. It was an active season during which twelve tropical cyclones formed. The season officially began on June 1, 1988 and ended November 30, 1988. These dates, adopted by convention, historically describe the period in each year when most systems form.
  Of this season's 12 named storms, 5 attained hurricane status, of which 3 became a major hurricane – a storm that ranks as a Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson scale. The most notable storm in 1988 was Hurricane Gilbert, which was at the time the most intense hurricane in the Atlantic on record. Hurricane Gilbert caused about $5 billion in damage and 300 fatalities. The other notable storm was Hurricane Joan, which struck Nicaragua as a category 4 hurricane, and caused about $2 billion in damage and about 200 fatalities. Joan crossed into the Pacific and was renamed Miriam. As a result of their intensity, the names Gilbert and Joan were subsequently retired from reuse in the North Atlantic by the World Meteorological Organization.
context_section_description: May 30
  18:00 UTC (2:00 p.m. EDT) – Tropical Depression One forms about 150 mi (185 km) south of Isla de la Juventud, Cuba.
caption: T.D. One on May 30
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